steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. president trump said he would hope that russia did not know in advance ofan that russia did not know in advance of an attack in syria. he was speaking at a news conference with secretary generaljens stoltenberg. donald trump described the syrian president as a butcher during that conference. the tough talk about syria goes on. that has had a knock—on effect with russia. of course, russia is supporting the syrian regime, and continues to do so syrian regime, and continues to do so despite protestations from america. that has led to people talking about the relationship being atan talking about the relationship being at an all—time low and trust being non—existent. i asked at an all—time low and trust being non—existent. iasked president trump this question. is conceivable, was it possible, that syrian forces could have launched that attack in idlib last week without russians knowing? and have you been disappointed by vladimir putin's reactions and then? i think it is certainl

moscow wa nts there are those sanctions. moscow wants them scrapped. one more thing, russia wants to be recognised as a superpower again, as russia wants to be recognised as a superpower again, as one russia wants to be recognised as a superpower again, as one of the boys, at the top of the table, calling the shots. that is all very well, but right now, the chances of an east— west deal are rapidly receding. even if donald trump agrees with moscow's wishes, his ties with russia that are insinuated, could leave it out to —— leads to an outrage at home. norman, the government still stinging after that failure to get a further sanction, targeted sanction adopted by the g—7 meeting at which borisjohnson attended. how is the government trying to turn the conversation and make the idea of russia seem as relevant as possible? there's a postmortem going on at westminster after that rebus of boris johnson's westminster after that rebus of borisjohnson's suggestions westminster after that rebus of boris johnson's suggestions for westminster after that re

that recognition from moscow that they want to point back to 1812, a foreign policy triumph as moscow would say, seeing off napoleon, western military aggression, if you like. in that sense, there were quite natty, the russian foreign ministry or the end of the i should say here in london in responding in that way and pasting a think that would do very well on social media. the language out of moscow describing it as absurd, boris johnson's justification for not going gives you a sense of how the kremlin sees this. they go on to say the stability and consistency as long. is the hallmark of western foreign policy. chris, thank you very much indeed. joining me now from turkey is massimiliano rebaudengo, head of mission for syria at medecins sans frontieres. i'll will be reflecting now on the terrible events of last week or earlier this week. good evening to you. do you have any up—to—date figures for the sort of numbers of casualties in that a strike which so clearly seems to be chemical attack? for the incident that happened at the days ago, the figure of the casualties are variabl

we'll have more coming up later from moscow. first back to peter alexander in washington. >> thank you so much. we'll go back to you in a matter of moments. another big story here closer to home, outrage growing over this disturbing video showing a passenger being dragged off of a united airline's flight. we are now confirming the name of that passenger that reredefinrerdefined the idea of fight or flight. (de♪p breath) (phone ringing) they'll call back. no one knows your ford better than ford and ford service. right now, during the big tire event, get a $140 rebate by mail, on four select tires. ♪ ♪ everything your family touches sticks with them. make sure the germs they bring home don't stick around. use clorox disinfecting products. because no one kills germs better than clorox. before fibromyalgia, i was a doer. i was active. then the chronic, widespread pain drained my energy. my doctor said moving more helps ease fibromyalgia pain. she also prescribed lyrica. fibromyalgia is thought to be the result of overactive ne

we start with breaking news out of moscow. the secretary of state rex tillerson meeting with the russian president vladimir putin. this meeting has been going on now for almost two hours. we're expecting to hear from tillerson and his russian counterpart at the end of the extended day of talks on russia's involvement in syria. the military strikes ordered by president donald trump among other issues. our senior diplomatic correspondent michelle kosinski is joining us live from moscow. and ben wedeman is at the border between syria and turkey. michelle, what does it say that president putin has been meeting now apparently for so long with secretary tillerson? >> reporter: well, even the fact that he has agreed to meet with him, that he scheduled this, is kind of part of the theater of the whole trip. the state department officials say they did expect this meeting to happen at some point, but president vladimir putin broke with precedence. he would normally expect and schedule to meet with any u.s. secretary of state. but this t

borisjohnson has pulled out of his visit but the americans are still going to moscow. it is a difficult question to answer, but is it likely that russia and president putin in particular will listen to any of this? in terms of boris johnson cancelling his visit, they describe it as absurd and have basically said it as absurd and have basically said it was just theatrics. they have not taken not it was just theatrics. they have not ta ken not particularly it was just theatrics. they have not taken not particularly seriously. borisjohnson taken not particularly seriously. boris johnson says taken not particularly seriously. borisjohnson says that taken not particularly seriously. boris johnson says that the reason he withdrew his planned trip to russia was because the americans are going and he said he wanted there to bea going and he said he wanted there to be a coordinated, i suppose, message, to the russians and that that would come from the americans rather than from him going tomorrow and that the situation had changed. that has been seized upon the critics of boris

ourtop story: moscow you're watching bbc news. i'm babita sharma. our top story: moscow raises the diplomatic stakes after last week's gas attack on a rebel held town in syria. secretary of state rex tillerson is in moscow to try to persuade russia to drop president assad as a long—term ally. russia has consistently blamed the syrian rebels boardies arian gas attack. the white house press secretary sean spicer has apologised for remarks suggesting hitler didn't use chemical weapons against his own people, saying his words were inappropriate and insensitive. this video is trending at bbc.com, showing the queen and her husband prince philip at whipsnade zoo outside london and they were feeding the elephants. it's clear one of them loves bananas. you're up to date. stay with us. our top story in the uk: the parents

secretary of state just arrived in moscow. he'll be meeting with his russian counterpart, this on the heels of the u.s. missile strikes in syria. huge amount of tension as the russian leader, vladimir putin, just made some statements. don't go anywhere. only tylenol® rapid release gels have laser drilled holes. they release medicine fast, for fast pain relief. tylenol® then you're a couple. think of all you'll share... like snoring. does your bed do that? the dual adjustability of a sleep number bed allows you each to choose the firmness and comfort you want. so every couple can get the best sleep ever. does your bed do that? for a limited time find clearance prices on the cse bed. now only $1399 - save $500. only at a sleep number store or sleepnumber.com >>> the breaking news, moments ago, russian president vladimir putin lashed out at the nights for its actions in syria and levied new accusations against syrian rebels. putin says moscow has proof that the chemical attacks that took place in syria last week were an effort

welcome to moscow, mr. secretary. >> shannon: north korea threatening a nuclear strike against the u.s. as the carl vincent heads toward the korean peninsula. they say they'll target american bases and the american main land at the first sign of an attack. president trump tweeted said north korea is looking for trouble. if china decides to help that would be great. if not we'll solve the problem without them, usa. john bolton is a fox news contributor, great to have you today mr. ambassador. you've been aware of this threat from north korea for a long time. how is this different? >> it's different in part because after eight years of watching north korea continue to develop its nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities we're close to the point where they will be able to deliver one of those nuclear warheads to the united states. so i think the time pressure here has accelerated. and i think the risks involved, given what we've just seen in syria, are now a little bit clearer to the chinese than they were b

steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. a lorry has been driven into a crowd of pedestrians in the swedish capital, stockholm, killing four people and injuring 15. sweden's prime minister has called it an act of terrorism. the incident happened in the early afternoon, on a busy pedestrian shopping street, with the lorry eventually crashing into a department store. police arrested a man who they say resembles images they released on cctv after the attack. our correspondent dan johnson reports from stockholm. people running in terror, as a truck races towards shoppers in the centre of stockholm. and this is where it ended up, in flames, after crashing into a department store. translation: i saw exactly where the lorry went in, just there. there wasn't much of a reaction, then the police arrived. the police just said, "you have to run". you could actually see bodies lying on the street, and i could see the police covering a body with an orange blanket. and there were lots of police around, lots of people just standing around a

pa rt secretary to moscow for the best part of five years. relations have not been good between london and moscow for quite some time, going right back to the middle of the last decade with the poisoning of alexander litvinenko, when findings here suggested that vladimir putin himself might have signed off the decision on the poisoning of that former russian agent here in london, so things have gone downhill ever since, the episodes in ukraine, the annexation of crimea. western sanctions against russia. this was a bit ofan sanctions against russia. this was a bit of an opportunity to start resetting, recalibrating those relations. this is now not going to ta ke relations. this is now not going to take place. instead, borisjohnson will travel to italy to meet with other members, other foreign ministers, of the g7 group of nations and discuss that strategy that rajini vaidya nathan nations and discuss that strategy that rajini vaidyanathan was discussing. rex tillerson will be pa rt discussing. rex tillerson will be part of those discussions, t

steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. and staying with us diplomacy, donald trump has been speaking about his country's other superpower rival, china. you were that a press conference with the head of nato, and said he had good talks with president xijinping. and he wanted to talk about north korea. president xijinping wants to talk about north korea. president xi jinping wants to to talk about north korea. president xijinping wants to do to talk about north korea. president xi jinping wants to do the right thing. we had a very good bonding, i think we had a very good chemistry together. i think he wants to help us together. i think he wants to help us with north korea. we talk trade, we talked a lot of things to be and isaid we talked a lot of things to be and i said the way you will get a good trade deal is to help us with north korea. —— things. 0therwise trade deal is to help us with north korea. —— things. otherwise we will go it alone, and that will be good to. is pressure over china working? well, they have

moscow. —— oui’ correspondence she sent this report from moscow. —— our correspondence is travelling with rex tillerson. this is not the kind of meeting that once seemed on the cards. long gone is talk of a grand resettling of relations with russia. that has been replaced over tensions over the that has been replaced by tensions over the chemical weapons attack in syria and russian anger over the american military response. it is important for us to understand your intentions, the intentions of the us aid and the real intentions of this administration. the secretary of state said both sides had some explaining to do. we can further clarify areas of common objectives, areas of common interests, even when our tactical approaches may be different. to further clarify areas of sharp difference so that we can better understand why these differences exist. the trump administration has raised the stakes by so publicly and strongly blaming russia for the actions of its syrian ally. it's a ma

it seems moscow's support for bashar al—assad is hardening. what are your best hopes foran hardening. what are your best hopes for an outcome to these talks? the best hope is a repeat really what happened in 2013. you all recall that on august the 31st, 2013, vladimir putin said it was our turn nonsense that bashar al—assad had used chemical weapons, then the russians clamped down on assad and within two weeks there was an agreement between russia, syria and the us that assad would make a com plete the us that assad would make a complete disclosure of his chemical weapons arsenal and russia and the us would remove it. assad did not make a complete listing of the arsenal but russia and the us did remove and destroy a lot of it. my guess is secretary tillerson is going to moscow to tell russia it's time to clamp down again on assad and get the rest of the chemical weapons out. do you think russia will play ball, they are talking very tough? yes. again, the smokescreen propaganda that putin used in 2013, we are seeing the same thing. russia doe

it to moscow after that meeting of the 6—7. it will to moscow after that meeting of the g—7. it will be interesting when, or is this meeting between boris johnson and his russian opposite number is rescheduled. he has made that decision, we have made about that. what has been the reaction? domestic reaction first, the liberal democrats i think that this is proof that boris johnson is, democrats i think that this is proof that borisjohnson is, a poodle of washington, as they discredit, having his diary managed from across the pond. they are saying that it is embarrassing it president trump judges you to be a bassoon. that washington and london of committed to finding a peaceful solution in syria. an intriguing response from russia, who have a track record, the russian embassy, they tweeted a link toa russian embassy, they tweeted a link to a piece of classical music, saying this is soft power response. is it just saying this is soft power response. is itjust that? i get most of my culture from a yoghurt pot. i had a history lesson. it turns out it is a link to the 1812 overtur

however, is he going to be given any sticks when he goes to moscow? will there be support for broader sanctions? what is the support and appetite for further strikes on syria by the you state, as we saw last week? that's not clear. that's all part of the discussion. obviously for allies wanting a clearer understanding of the nuance of the u.s. position on syria, because only a week or so ago most of those partners thought that the united states wasn't going after assad, wasn't interested in assad, primarily interested in isis. that's all up for discussion. we expect to hear more as the meetings wrap up. when they wrap up, secretary tillerson will head for moscow. >> noted that these used to be called g8 meetings when russia was included but isolated from the international community because ofity actions in ukraine. rex tillerson on his way there after these meetings wrap up. thank you for that, nic robertson. >> his visit obviously comes at a crucial time. relations between the u.s. and russia are deteriorating by the day. tillerson slammed the putin

moscow, he said earlier, bears a heavy responsibility after last week's chemical attack. it is unclear whether russia failed to take this obligation seriously or russia has been incompetent, but this distinction doesn't much matter to the dead. president vladimir putin is sending mixed signals, meeting the italian president today, the russian leader is apparently hoping for constructive cooperation with washington. but he's still talking up the risk of confrontation, accusing both america and opposition forces of planning further attacks. translation: we have information from various sources, that similar provocations, i can't call them any differently, are being prepared in other parts of syria as well, including the southern suburbs of damascus, where they are preparing to release some sort of substance again. one leading kremlin watcher says mr tillerson must tread very carefully to do a deal with the russian leader. so, we know putin quite well. putin is a person who can make unexpected moves towards partners and even concessions, but he never does it under pressure,

a tough day of talks in moscow. u.s. secretary of state rex tillerson says relations with russia are at a low point. he says that trust is hard to find. both sides have agreed to try to find a peaceful solution for syria, but tonight, russia has just vetoed a united nations security resolution that calls for an investigation into the chemical weapons attacks. also coming up -- after the dortmund team bus attack, that postponed the match against monaco, and president zuma's 75th birthday, but he is not invited to this party. south africa's opposition pushes to get rid of the controversial president. and germans in a photographer michael ball house known for his contribution to hollywood movies has died at the age of 81. we will take a look at his life and his work. -- german cinematographer michael ballhaus. i'm brent goff. it's good to have you with us. after a day of talks in moscow, u.s. secretary of state rex tillerson in moscow said u.s.-russia relations are at a low point, marked by what he says is a severe lack of

steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. police in germany say they've detained one suspect, thought to have islamist links, after three explosions hit a bus carrying the borussia dortmund football team last night. they say they're treating the incident as a terror attack. the match against monaco is now being played tonight. 0ur correspondentjenny hill is in dortmund, where it has just got under way. jenny. stringent security here, as you'd expect a night, as the match got under way about half an hour ago. police are still trying to establish who was behind last night's attack, and what the motive might have been. as you heard there, they have made one arrest today, and they are believed to be looking for another man, though prosecutors are refusing to comment on fairly widespread media reports that one of those men was an iraqi national, the other a german citizen. nevertheless, right 110w german citizen. nevertheless, right now the focus here at the stadium here in dortmund, germany's largest stadium, is very much on the

you spent years in moscow. the significance of what donald trump's son said, really what was pointingen out, that perhaps this bombing was about, given what is happening in washington right now, questioning donald trump's relationship with russia, that they wanted to prove something once and for all? >> well, i think the people who benefited from this terrible gas incident last week was certainly theassad, certainly not russian government. the people who benefited, as you suggested in the question, the people who were defending themselves against the optimization that trump was of moscow. -- accusation a trump was of moscow. what we would now call deep state, kind of alliance between the top military brass in washington, the arms manufacturers, and the intelligence agencies who were worried that trump was somehow getting out of control and opening up good relations with russia, and they wanted to get him back on the traditional track of confrontation with russia. of course, the third group that will benefit, th

steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. reaction from moscow pretty much resista nt reaction from moscow pretty much resistant from the reaction of the security meeting. our correspondent nada tawfik is in new york where the un security council has been holding an emergency meeting. a polarised debate at the un. absolutely. we got to hear from several states about their opinion on the us air strikes. we heard strong language from the us ambassador saying the us was justified in their actions and that they would do more if necessary, also calling on the syrian government to start engaging in political talks that the un has been holding, saying they haven't held up to that agreement. on the side of the us we had britain and france saying they thought this was a legitimate response to what they consider a war crime and really holding russia counter to the several failed the toes they have used to block action against president assad. on the other hand, we had those who were upset with the us action, russia's position. it was s

moscow, he said earlier, bears heavy responsibility after last week's chemical attack. secretary tillerson: it is unclear whether russia failed to take his obligation seriously or if russia is incompetent, but this distinction doesn't much matter to the dead. james: president vladimir putin is sending mixed signals. meeting the italian president today, the russian leader is hoping for constructive cooperation with washington, but is still talking up the risk of confrontation, accusing america and opposition forces of planning further attacks. president putin: we have information from sources that provocations are being prepared in other parts of syria, including the southern suburbs of damascus, where they are planning to release some sort of substance again. james: mr. tillerson must tread very carefully to make a deal with the russian leader. >> we know putin well. putin is a person who can make unexpected moves towards partners, and even concessions, but never bends under pressure. just the opposite. james: on last week's gas attack moscow and washington seem to , ag

but there was no warm welcome for the new us secretary of state in moscow today. he flew in for talks on syria — and the russian promptly lambasted america for indulging in iraq style war tactics. the us wants moscow to drop its support for president assad. but the west has almost no leverage. on monday in italy, the british foreign secretary had told reporters this was a window of opportunity. it's time, he said, for putin to face the truth. 24—hours on his plan is in tatters. germany and italy are opposed to further sanctions. the only agreement said the secretary of state is that somehow assad has to be removed. it is clear to all of us that the reign of the assad family is coming to an end but the question of how that ends and the transition itself could be very important in our view to thejury could be very important in our view to the jury ability and the stability of a unified syria —— the durability. and the outcome going forward. so that is why we are not presupposing how that occurs. but i think it is clear that we see no further role for the ass

in moscow though, that approach has backfired. president putin has only deepened his show of solidarity with assad and blames the rebels for the chemical attack. the relationship between the us and russia is as bad as it has been in a very long time. in the aftermath of this air strikes, rex tillerson is going over with the hope that he can somehow persuade russia of the critical importance of the us and russia not coming to conflict in syria. tillotson has a lot of expense of working with the kremlin, but in cutting business deals when he worked for exxon mobil. this is a whole other matter and the trip will bea whole other matter and the trip will be a test of whether he is up to the challenge. ina challenge. in a moment, we will have the latest from gary o‘donoghue in washington, but first, let‘s join sarah ra i nsfo rd but first, let‘s join sarah rainsford in washington —— in moscow, and one can only imagine how i see those initial conversations must have been. certainly it looked like a very cool atmosphere and the

instead, he will go to moscow on monday. instead, he will gotoa moscow on monday. instead, he will go to a meeting of 6—7 foreign ministers who are meeting in italy to talk about syria amongst other things. the us secretary will go on his own after that meeting. my understanding from speaking to those around boris johnson is understanding from speaking to those around borisjohnson is that they did not feel that strategically use was worthwhile, that the two men pretty much going one after another because of fears that russia might try and find a way of praising them apart politically, even though on this issue and the us intervention in the other day, that the uk and the us are at one. borisjohnson deciding not to go, secretary of the us, deciding not to go. —— he will go. at what point, if ever, is this meeting rescheduled. in the meantime, what has been the reaction to the decision not to go? a couple of lines coming out of russia, from the russian foreign ministry and the embassy here in london. the russian foreign ministry said it is absurd that boris joh

i mean, is happening on the 14th of april in moscow, the moscow format, with the participation of central asian states that have been invited and american observers, representatives who have been invited and we hope they will be able to participate. we have also touched on the crisis in ukraine. we have common positions, minsk agreements of 2015 should be implemented. we remembered how the previous administration has settled bilateral contact between washington and moscow in addition to four party... we have felt the desire of the current administration to continue contact so that we could help looking for practical steps of full realisation of minsk agreements. we will continue to welcome these agreements and efforts to participate in them. we have also talked about the situation in the korean peninsular which is very troublesome for all of us, russia and the us. i speakfor implementation of the un security council resolution and we were talking about finding ways of getting out of the spiral of escalations and moved towards the negotiation process of demilitarisation of the korean pulli

but moscow has said it will strengthen syria's anti—aircraft defences. it has also suspended a deal which is designed to prevent incidents between us and russian warplanes over the country, while washington says it is preparing further economic sanctions against syria. earlier, i spoke to our correspondent rajini vaidya nathan at president trump's residence in florida, and i asked how the trump administration is responding to international reaction to the strike on syria. i think at the moment there is a question of whether syria will respond at all and what we've been hearing from officials at the un and the secretary of state is that this was a targeted attack, an act of retaliation, so any further steps or measures it might take will depend on what syria's response is to that. but one thing that is important to stress is that we have been told... officials at mar—a—lago said last night that the us is preparing further sanctions against syria. it is unclear when they will be announced but the us treasury secretary did say that there will be further

the us secretary of state rex tillerson is in mock so —— moscow to persuade vladimir putin to drop his support for assad. it is pretty obvious that the reign of the assad family is coming to the end at the question of the transition itself could be very important. the white house press secretary sean spicer has been forced to apologise for remarks that suggested hitler did not use chemical weapons against his own people. i think when you come to gas, he was not using the gas on his own people in the same way that aside is doing. i'm babita sharma in london. a man who says he worked for a hitman for philippine's president rodrigo duterte has fled the country. and finally, united airlines says sorry for forcibly dragging this man offa sorry for forcibly dragging this man off a plane to make room for one of its own staff. live from our studios in singapore and london. this is bbc world news. it is newsday. good morning. at 7am here in singapore, midnight in london and 2am in moscow where the american secretary of state rex tillerson is preparing for talks with vladimir putin which he hope

>> shepard: thanks, rich edson live from moscow. we're waiting for the president to speak and we're told in about 90 seconds he will. let's go to anna palmer from politico. anything that you thought was unusual today? sergey lavrov dominating the news conference as chris wallace observed. not really that much of a surprise. anything else? >> i think one of the things that we're all seeing is that the tension between moscow and the u.s. right now is that basically an all-time high since the cold war. that was on display, kind of chilly body, kind of body language from both of them. the domination from the spokesman wanting to get their side of the story out without the world, the tension to what is happening there. the one bright spot i guess is this joint investigation. we'll see how far that goes. other than that, i think it's more of the same pile-on of really a difference of opinions of what is happening, where the u.s. is and where moscow is. >> shepard: i have to get to the president now. he and the u.n. secretary general are a

from moscow, steve rosenberg. the last time he was in russia, rex tillerson was an oil man, doing multibillion—dollar deals with the kremlin, drinking champagne with vladimir putin. he even got an award from him. but in moscow today, it was a political deal secretary of state tillerson was seeking, over syria, not easy with us—russian relations at their worst since the end of the cold war. he met his russian counterpart, sergei lavrov. then, behind closed doors in the kremlin, president putin. there was a lot to talk about, including this. last week, america launched cruise missiles, targeting a syrian government air base. an act of aggression, said russia, against moscow's ally. washington claimed it was an appropriate response to the recent chemical weapons attack in the syrian town of khan sheikhoun. today, america and russia publicly disagreed about who was behind it. the facts that we have are conclusive, that the recent chemical weapons attack carried out in syria was planned, and it was directed and exe

let's go to moscow and our correspondent steve rosenberg. and how likely is it that he will be able to persuade president putin to abandon his support for syria's president? you know, back in the day when he was an oil executive, doing deals with the russians, rex tillerson once got an award from blood amir putin, the russian order of friendship, but i think it will be much harderfor him to secure of friendship, but i think it will be much harder for him to secure the political pricey six now, a kremlin u—turn on syria, and that is because president assad is russia's key military ally in the middle east. the russians have invested heavily in — militarily, politically, financially — to keep him in power, and in the eyes of moscow, he is the guarantor not only against an islamist takeover of syria but of russian interest in syria. russian military bases, for example. so i think rex tillerson will have to have something very special indeed in his briefcase, a really sweet deal to offer the russians if he is going to convince the kremlin t

the foreign secretary borisjohnson has called off a visit to moscow, saying the chemical weapons attack in syria changed the situation ‘fundamentally‘. two people have died and 33 others were rescued after a fire at a care home in hertfordshire. and broadcasters penny smith and charlie wolf will be here to help me review the morning papers. good evening and welcome to bbc news. the sunday telegraph says that russia will be told to pull troops out of syria under a uk— us plan. hello, good evening. the foreign secretary, borisjohnson, has pulled out of a planned visit to moscow next week in the wake of the chemical weapons attack in syria earlier this week. in a statement, mrjohnson said he deplored russia's continued defence of the assad regime. earlier, i spoke to ian bremmer, the founder of the eurasia group, a global political risk consultancy. he said us—russian relations are at their lowest point since the early 1980s. when trump became president there was a strong intention on the part of him and his administration to effect a strategic partnership with russia and get relat

will this be conveyed to moscow? i certainly can't say anything to that effect before he even leaves. we do have a consolidated desertion on what was already said. this is the support thatis already said. this is the support that is reiterated in the final statement to the work of the special on boy for syria. within this effort, there has to be a ceasefire. that has to be the starting point for a political process. as the european constituency within g—7, because some european countries are in the g—7 format of course, we reiterated our willingness and our will to participate in the rebuilding, not only of syrian institutions, but in concrete terms and specifically of syria over all. this cannot be while massacres are ongoing and well dated —— and while they continued to destroy syria. we need a genuine and long lasting ceasefire. my my italian is not very good but i will give it a try. the french minister said there was no concessions about new sanctions. i wonder whether the g—7 ministers think that it i

secretary of state, on his first trip, has gone to moscow and not met with the premiere of moscow. things are not looking very good at the moment. certainly going to be looking to have a show of strength. is not keen to show any sort of friendship toward the administration. a better do we have understanding of the trump intent in the middle east and with russia? john: no, we don't. if you listen to the statements coming out of the trump administration over the last three or four days, they are sort of all over the place. sometimes, they say the u.s. will prevent any more slaughter of the innocents. that could mean anything. on other occasions, you have trump administration officials saying the u.s. policy in syria has not changed, which means nonintervention or more non-intervention. obviously, a lot of drama over the last four or five days, but we do not know if there is a trump doctrine on the middle east, whether we will get one at any point in the future. francine: has the world become a much worse place, in terms of security, and the last two weeks, also because of what is goi

alleges which says it can prove which moscow says never happened. that just highlighted a problem, but even before that assad was becoming a liability for moscow. but moscow is in a strange position. vladimir putin is in a difficult position. even if he wants to back away from assad, it's difficult for him to now back away from assad because trump is telling him to back away from assad because rex tillerson is coming to moscow and ordering him to break off relations with his ally.ally. so it's hard to know if that is coming, if moscow will really eventually change its tune on assad and decide that he's a liability and try and quietly remove him down the road. but i think in this case all politics is local. so both sides got to look like they were taking a tough stand against the other. so i guess there's a success in that. >> you've written so eloquently about the region, and in your most recent book, by i devoured. looking at -- >> oh, thank you. >> what do you think assad's thinking tonight? >> well, i think assad has got to be very nervous about

steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. tim: earlier i was joined by william cohan who now says that bbc world affairs analyst. let's start with the strike itself? tim: until this week's was this the right response? >> i think it was. this is the second time we have seen chemical weapons being used, there was more times, but the is the second time world has seen this. i don't think we can allow any country to engage in that kind of a barbarous activity without any response. i think we have a very little choice but to send a signal that this is unacceptable and not to repeat it. nim: but this is a -- the entire world community ought to come down on president to attend and what he has allowed to happen. i know this is something important to him, that he wants to be respected as the leader of a great country, but you have to earn that respect and act respectful of others. he has not done so, and has associated himself with assad and kim jong un on in korea. pressure all to be on russia now to say that we want to be members of

steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. a lorry has been driven into a crowd of pedestrians in stockholm, killing four people and injuring 15, nine of them seriously. the swedish prime minister said everything suggested it was an act of terrorism. the incident happened mid—afternoon on a busy pedestrian shopping street, with the truck eventually crashing into a department store. tonight police arrested a man who they say resembles images they released on cctv after the attack. our correspondent dan johnson has just sent this report from the swedish capital. people running in terror, at eight truck races towards shoppers in a shopping centre in soccer. and this is where it ended up, in flames after crashing. translation: is exactly where the lorry went in, just there. —— stockholm. there wasn't much of a reaction, that the police arrive. they just said that you had reaction, that the police arrive. theyjust said that you had to run. you can actually see bodies lying on the street, and police covering the bodies with an

secretary tillerson's blunt message in moscow as president trump makes surprising reversals. >>> beating on tape, a police officer seen pummeling a man he stopped for jaywalking. passers by confronting the cop. the scene captured on camera. >>> cutting fat, dramatic results revealed after a basic city revealed facts and another big change coming to food nationwide. >>> and oprah's passion project. a woman that has saved countless lives without knowing it. "nightly news" begins right now. >>> good evening to our viewers in the west. president trump who has been unwilling to publicly criticize russia today made a dramatic turn about declaring relations between the two countries to be at an all-time low. his comments coming hours after secretary of state rex tillerson shared the same assessment following a high stakes meeting with russian president vladimir putin. the friction is over what russia may or may not have known about the recent deadly chemical weapons assault on civilians by its close ally syria and the u.s. wished to drive syrian president assad from power. chief foreign affairs

he's in moscow now. it's been announced that friday russia will be hosting iran and syria in moscow. so what happens next is unclear. will president putin be bringing a message from tillerson to those other parties or will somehow it turn out to be a show of defiance once again against the rest of the international community, jenna. we'll have to wait and see. >> thanks, amy. john? >> president trump was known on the campaign trail for his brash rhetoric. criticizing china, nato, the iran nuclear deal. but so far his approach to foreign policy and national security has been pretty conventional. that's according to the "wall street journal" in a column entitled "five players steer trump's diplomacy to center." he writes some trump fans are unhappy, but the establishment is breathing a bit easier. jerry joins us now. he's the executive washington editor for the "wall street journal." there were so many concerns in the u.s. senate when rex tillerson was chosen to be his nominee of secretary of state. they s

the meetings in moscow. as rex tillerson is making clear, the focus will be what happened in a syrian town. we've talked about this many times in the last week. at least 89 people were killed in that chemical attack, which has been widely reported. the west blames the syrian government for that attack. here's an update on the us defense secretary, coming from reuters, who has said, there is no doubt the syrian government is responsible for that gas attack. the syrian government flatly denies this. here is vladimir putin talking earlier. translation: we have information from various sources that similar provocations, i can't call them any differently, are being prepared in other parts of syria too. including the southern suburbs of damascus, where they're preparing to release some sort of substance again. let's turn to the analysis of our bbc russia correspondent. this is the usual tactics used by mr putin in such circumstances. he never steps back under pressure and always just strikes back with some counter

and it is some tough talk here from moscow. and all of it is setting up this trip from the secretary of state next week to russia, this face-to-face meeting. to say tensions are going to be high is probably a bit of an understatement here. this is a cig kapt moment, not just on the policy front and not just on the international diplomacy front, but for rex tillerson too, right? for the first several months of the trump administration there were questions about what kind of role he would play, that he hadn't been stepping into the spotlight and asserting his authority as secretary of state. what we have seen over the last 48 hours is secretary tillerson stepping into the spotlight, talking with reporters, briefing them about this syrian air strike and the international fallout. we've also seen with national security advisor h.r. mcmaster too in what has been his first very significant moment publicly in this administration. so, yes, plenty of news on this weekend to keep us busy, richard. i imagine more will be coming out tonigh

the foreign secretary borisjohnson has called off a visit to moscow, saying the chemical weapons attack in syria changed the situation ‘fundamentally‘. two people have died and 33 others were rescued after a fire at a care home in hertfordshire. swedish police say a man arrested in stockholm after yesterday's fatal lorry attack is almost certainly the driver. and — coming up in 10 minutes — political leaders and commentators from the baltics, america and russia will be exploring what the new era of putin and trump could look like in global questions. good evening and welcome to bbc news. the foreign secretary, borisjohnson, has pulled out of a planned visit to moscow next week in the wake of the chemical weapons attack in syria earlier this week. in a statement, mrjohnson said he deplored russia's continued defence of the assad regime. our diplomatic correspondent james robbins reports. this was president trump's message to the syrian government and its russian backers yesterday, delivered with force. the united states and her allies reject syrian denials they used a chemical we

an act of aggression, said russia, against moscow's ally. washington claimed it was an appropriate response to the recent chemical weapons attack in the syrian town of khan sheikhoun. today, america and russia publicly disagreed about who was behind it. the facts that we have are conclusive, that the recent chemical weapons attack carried out in syria was planned, and it was directed and executed by syrian regime forces. translation: we saw no evidence of this. and, from tv pictures and eyewitnesses who were at the base when the planes took off, it's clear there were no signs of any chemical substances present there. there was disagreement, too, over president assad. moscow appears unwilling to do what america would like it to, stop supporting him. today, donald trump called president assad "truly evil", and criticised russia for backing him. clearly, our view is that the reign of the assad family is coming to an end, and they have again brought this on themselves with their conduct of the war these past few years. translation: we've been th

donald trump says relations with moscow may be at an all—time low. it could be the biggest in 50 years — new zealand braces itself for another powerful storm, just a week after cyclone debbie. borussia dortmund play their big european match after a 24—hour delay. german police say a man with islamist links has been detained over the attack on the team bus. and i'm aaron heslehurst. day of reckoning on wall street — can america's banking giants back their sky—high share prices with sky—high profits? plus, scooter boys beware. why your take—away food could soon be arriving by robot. hello, and welcome to bbc world news. an all—time low — the verdict on us relations with russia from both president trump and his secretary of state. rex tillerson‘s talks in moscow were never going to be easy, but it now seems clear the kremlin has not budged in its support for syria's president assad, despite last week's chemical attack. the us and russia are poles apart on pretty much everything from syria to the many questions about russian interferenc

stopped short of accusing moscow of direct involvement in. the u.s. ambassador takes a harder line. >> i'm not seeing any hard evidence that connects the russians directly to the planning or execution of this chemical weapons attack. indeed, that's why we'll try to be very clear that the russians were never targeted in this strike. >> they now have to answer, how can they, with a straight face, cover for assad, if they're covering for assad, what are they saying. they're saying by covering for assad they knew it was there or they were confident by having chemical weapons there in the first place. >> more on moscow's response to the u.s. strike. >> including most recently, joint statement with iran, also key syrian ally, criticizing u.s. missile strikes and americans will dominate the world. but the behind that, moscow is being measured and advance about the u.s. strikes, but then activate its sophisticated missile defense. what russian officials are making clear, though, is that this may not be the case again should the united states choose to carry o

how much of today's reaction in moscow in cancelling this key line and hotline for deconfliction. what are russian officials are telling you? >> well, on the surface is a significant change. it does affect practicalities on the ground. the able of russian and american forces to maintain the safe degree of separation of each other. but, it is a withdraw cooperation and a gesture. when company disagrees of this way, they withdraw areas of cooperations, this is one of the few areas of cooperations that existed between russia and american forces on the ground there. there is a great deal of outrage that's invented here for american officials, describing russian officials, describing this as illegal and unjustified and a blow against the sovereignty government. such as been russia's protection of the assad regime. in that context make no mistake. russia will be working in a pragmatic cool headed way of what all of this means for policy in syria. >> whether it does shift a broad of change and perhaps, more in . all of this is important. >> rerx tillerson is in moscow later this week. >>